Back at L-51, things weren’t going well. People were running frantically in every direction. Flames were everywhere. Civilians scattered frantically, trying to find an escape pod or cryotube that the attacking droids had not jettisoned or destroyed. A lone woman carried an infant throughout the red lit corridors, looking for a cryotube that had somehow been overlooked. She ran for almost fifteen minutes straight. Then, she found it. The droids had overlooked it because it was hidden beneath a pile of rubble. She walked over to a damaged airlock where an escape pod had been, loaded her six-month old into the cryotube, and jettisoned the cryotube. It slowly drifted down towards the frigid planet of Ajikhala.
“Hey, what are you doing?! Shoot her!” The woman fell to the ground, a steaming hole in her chest.

The marines were geared up and boarded a transport that would take them to L-51. The trip would take thirty minutes. After what seemed like hours to the anxious marines, they heard the pilot over the intercom. “We’re here. This doesn’t look too good, mates.”
Slowly, each of the twenty marines climbed out of the docking ring and stepped into a burning L-51.

They were not prepared to see what they saw. There was wreckage everywhere, laser scorch marks were in the walls, Smoldering corpses of men, women, and children. They averted their eyes and kept on going, searching for possible survivors. They kept on walking through scorched corridors of the colony, laser rifles at the ready. Then, out of nowhere came ten droids marching down the rubble strewn halls. Then came the “Zap! Zong! Zap!” of their weapons. The marines fired back. Then a firefight broke out.

Marines and droids alike fell as lasers bored through their metal armor. Just as soon it began, the firefight stopped. One marine had captured a droid for questioning on the whereabouts of the survivors. It said, “Survivors? Ha! There are no survivors! We killed them all!” The marine twisted the droid’s head off and threw it to the floor, where it sparked a bit.

“Damn!”

The six month old baby John slowly drifted towards planet Ajikhala in his compact cryotube.

On the bridge of the droid boarding craft, the command crew carefully monitored for life signs and stray escape pods coming from L-51. “Commander, we have located a cryotube moving on a steady course with Ajikhala. It is out of our firing range, but there are no life signs.” The baby was too small to be detected by scanners. Command commenced normally.

The marines didn’t encounter any other resistance in their search for survivors, but as they continued to press on through the red lit corridors of L-51, the marines slowly realized that what the droid had said was true. Everyone was dead. Not even the children were spared. They pulled the self destruct lever, and left with a heavy heart.
As the troop ship was piloted away, they watched as L-51 plummeted through the Ajikhan atmosphere.

John was through the atmosphere and plummeting to the surface of Ajikhala. There was a small “whump!” as the parachute opened. He slowly drifted down to the harsh, frozen surface.

Epilogue:

An Ajikhan watched in fascination as a meteor came through the atmosphere. He watched its flaming brilliance as it sped towards the ground. Then a parachute opened up on this “meteor”, and realization dawned upon the Ajikhan. That’s not a meteor! It’s some kind of escape pod! He revved up an odd looking tracked vehicle and set out across the wastes toward the cryotube.

The Ajikhan slowly looked into the cryotube. An infant, no more than six months old, lay in cryogenic sleep. A human? There are no orbital colonies except-“Oh no.” The alien said aloud. He had completely forgotten about it. Orbital colony L-51 had been attacked by Axari forces two hours ago. He had heard it on the holonet, but didn’t really think much about it because his mind was preoccupied with other things. He peered down at the infant again. I suppose I should take him home and thaw him…

The Ajikhan sat inside a crude shelter made of Ice. It was a simple place, with electricity supplied by solar panels on the roof. He heard a beeping noise coming from the cryotube. The thaw process was complete. The alien peered inside, and found an infant with strong and wild eyes staring up at him. The infant had snow white hair, and didn’t seem the least bit distressed. Suddenly a name formed in the Ajikhan’s mind: Frost.